Comparing President Obama to Hitler…

Anne Frank, just one of six million Jews who did not survive

the Holocaust. She died at 16.

As unbelievable as that sounds, I’ve actually seen quite a few sites trying to make an argument that President Obama is like Hitler. To say that shocks me, is an understatement. I wish I was well versed in history to list all the atrocities committed by Hitler, but the death of six million Jews alone, should speak for itself. This man is quite possibly the worst human being to have ever walked the face of the earth, and yet somehow people feel justified in comparing him to our president.

Maybe we should revisit some of the crimes that Hitler was responsible for to show how wrong and ludicrous this comparison really is. Hitler has been referred to a “madman” because of the extent of his evil acts. He knew exactly what he was doing and it did it enthusiastically. His crimes were atrocities against Jews and mankind. Not only did he ordered the deaths of six million innocent Jews, men women and children, he caused World War II. Countless lives of all nationalities were lost in that war trying to stop his reign of terror. Does anyone remember the concentration camps, the mass graves, how body parts were put into baskets and later used to make soap?

Once, when I was in high school, I had a young, Jewish English teacher, Miss Dodes. I really liked this teacher a lot. She was enthusiastic and it was contagious. One day we were discussing the book, “Animal Farm,” by George Orwell. It was an allegorical book using symbolism to describe World War II. We were each given a symbol and told to explain how it relates to this historic event. One of my friends gave her speech on "Hitler’s Germany" and, when she was done, the teacher asked, "What about the killing of six million Jews? that had been left it out of her report. My friend answered, “I didn’t think that was important.” Miss Dodes blew a gasket! She took the comment to mean the girl didn’t think the Holocaust was important, but what she meant was that the Holocaust wasn’t depicted in the book, so she didn’t include it. Never-the-less, Miss Dodes would not let this rest because, like all Jews and many others, she believes the Holocaust should never be forgotten. The following day she brought in a very long, black and white documentary of actual footage of the Holocaust, from World War II Germany. It described and showed in graphic detail, the despicable, evil, unimaginable things that were done to the Jewish people and their corpses. If I forget everything that I ever learned in high school, I will never forget that video.

I know that everyone wants to make the opposing candidate look bad so their candidate will win an election. They will pull out every skeleton in their closet; drag their family through the mud; twist their words around and take them out of context; they will lie about them; they will contribute huge sums of money to their campaign; they will volunteer for their campaign…all in a collaborative effort to get their man elected. Both sides do it. It’s nothing new. But, when you try to demonize a man, any man, by comparing him to Hitler, you have crossed a line. Is anyone in the history of the world comparable to Hitler? Not in my mind. What little history I have learned throughout my education, no one even comes close to his crimes and reputation.

But, that’s not even the worst of it. What is worse and sadder still, in my opinion, is that while some are busy trying to demonize President Obama with this comparison, they are at the same time minimizing and trivializing the crimes against Jews and humanity by Hitler. They are disrespecting and insulting those who died in the Holocaust. How many Jewish people do you think would be happy or agree with this comparison? How does anyone agree with this comparison? I have no idea. None.

Joe Gandalman, a Jewish writer, doesn’t agree with it. He writes, “Several times before his 1973 death my grandfather Abraham Ravinsky would open his family photo album and show me pictures of men, women and children who had been our relatives in Russia who were among the many exterminated by Hitler. He’d point: “Killed by Hitler…killed by Hitler…killed by Hitler” He’d look at me, then go on, telling me a murdered relative’s name. I still think of those doomed little kids.”

And here’s another thing that occurs to me. There are those who may be trying to gain Jewish votes with this tactic, but their strategy will backfire. Comparing President Obama to Hitler is not going to score points, quite the opposite. They are touching on a very real, and still very painful nerve, mentioning Hitler. They are opening up old wounds and making them relive a tragic part of their history. It’s all very disturbing to me and I’m not Jewish.

And when I hear these comparisons being made, I remember one of my favorite books of all time, The Diary Of Anne Frank. It's the story of a 13 years old Jewish girl, whose family went into hiding in Holland. I had the inspiring privilege of visiting “The Annex,” where her family hid during World War II, when I was visiting Amsterdam many years ago. Her diary is well worth reading and you can find many graphic videos of the Holocaust online, similar to the one I saw in high school, if anyone is interested. I’m posting a short video of Anne Frank’s Diary below. Anne Frank did not survive the Holocaust, but thank God her diary did. It's been reported that, after the Bible, this is the most read book worldwide.